Joshua 8: 10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
Judges 20: 15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men….. 1st Samuel 15: 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
1st Chronicles 21:8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men…. To David’s mind, God made a mistake in judgement, because David refers to the slain as sheep.
Thus, the question is: Were they indeed sheep, and if so, was this an arbitrary act on God’s part to slay 70,000 of what we often refer to as innocent souls? The answer to this conundrum can be found in the topic for today, namely: “God is a Spirit” and thus, it must be that something wrong was being cherished in their hearts why He smote them as He did. Unlike David, they refused to repent, of whatever the issue was, and that’s why they were taken out.
1st Chronicles 21:16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
May God add His blessing to the study of His word. “Good night” and God bless!